Ancient Philosophy Quiz #1

Hair

Anaxagoras posed the challenge: "How can hair come from what is not _________"

Apeiron

Anaximander thought the material principle was

Air / aer

Anaximenes thought the material principle was

Lodestone Soul

Because it moved and could move other things, Thales thought the _______________ had a _________________.

atoms / the void OR mathematical and physical divisibility

Democritus accounted for change by positing _________________________ and ___________________.

Ionian and Italian

Diogenes Laertius divides the early philosophical traditions geographically between ____________________ and __________________.

Anaximander's Law of Compensation posits that the classes of apeiron must compensate each other for their time in dominance or power, thereby creating a sort of change and cyclical behavior. For example, hot and cold are constantly in flux because the currently dominant one must eventually pay compensation for its suppressing the other (would explain why hot water cools). This retributions moral law was Anaximander's best attempt at a cosmology or explanatory model which he believed should be done through moral or statuary laws. The Law of Compensation, which describes a personal model for impersonal changes, explains physical change processes of all things the apeiron is composed of.

Explain Anaximander's Doctrine of Compensation:

Heraclitus observed that there are many cases where "opposites reign" in the world - arrow is both straight and crooked" and developed a cosmology similar to a "kykeon," a blended together mash of everything. He also believed that the soul has a self-increasing logos, which when activated, was capable of observing the change constantly taking place in the world. Heraclitus believed that this constant changing and turmoil of opposites into each other are what the base of the universe is - a meta process.

Explain Heraclitus' Doctrine of the Unity of Opposites

Parmenides is known for his Two Routes of Inquiry, Truth and Opinion. He also posits a Non-Being Route, but quickly dismisses this as being impossible to venture down because what is not cannot be. Parmenides believes in "The One" a token monism where he posits there is some substance which as no end, change, is in complete unity, is unique which composes the world. He believes because one cannot conceive of what is not (conceiving would make it what is), that only truth or opinion are valid routes of inquiry.

Explain Parmenides' monism in terms of the dilemma "is or is not"

Zeno's Arrow Paradox is a display of Eleatic Finitism - the philosophical belief that only things which can be accomplished in a finite number of tasks exist. Zeno's argument is that because an object being in its own space means it is at rest (and vice versa) that an arrow moving through the air in flight does not move because technically it is in a space of its own. Ultimately, this paradox forces the conclusion that motion does not exist. Aristotle rejects this through the dichotomy of infinity: infinity of extension and infinity of division.

Explain the argument behind Zeno's Arrow Paradox

river

Heraclitus: "we step into and do not step into the same _______."

Anaxagoras proposed the belief that "everything is everything" and the Portions doctrine - both of which essentially said that all objects have a little of everything in them. This conforms with Eleatic monism because Anaxagoras posited that nothing was created or destroyed and that everything was complete. In this way - Anaxagoras agrees with Zeno and Parmenides that nothing what is except what is.

In what way is Anaxagoras' pluralism a compromise with Eleatic monism?

Earth, Fire, Air, Water

Name Empedocles' four roots

Truth Opinion

Parmenides: Two paths of inquiry: The Way of ____________ and the Way of ______________.

transmigrates / is reincarnated within another living being

Pythagoras held the view that the soul _______________________ after death

Thales was challenged that philosophy was useless because he was poor. So, he used his astrological abilities to predict a bumper olive crop, and purchased all the olive presses in the winter before they were needed. In the spring during harvest, he made a fortune when everyone had to go through him to press Olives. Through this, he proved philosophers could be wealthy if they chose, but nobly pursue other intellectual agendas. Also, that philosophy has real-world applications / merit.

Retell the story of Thales and the olive presses. What is a received lesson of the story?

well

Thales fell in a

Water

Thales thought the basic material principle was

Miletus

Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander were all from the city of

Anaxagoras

The Doctrine of Portions is a view attributed to

Heraclitus

The Doctrine of Strife and the Doctrine of Flux are views attributed to

Leucippus

The atomists: Democritus and

Akousmatikoi

Those Pythagoreans who maintained the wisdom and saying of Pythagoras were the ________________.

Mathematikoi

Those pythagoreans who inquired after harmonies in the world and sought to explain them were called

Type monism: There is one basic type or stuff composed of many different tokens. An example would be the Milesian Monism of Thales (arche is air) or Anaximander (air is apeiron). Token monism refers to concepts of monism where there is just one thing - referred to as "the one". Parmenides and Zeno are both token monists because there can be only "the one" and that movement and time are merely illusions.

Type vs. token monism

For followers of Pythagoras, especially the mathematikoi, numbers were at the bottom of the Universe. Everything at bottom was to be a ratio of numbers: the world can be fully articulated and explained by math. These numbers and ratios helped to explain Pythagoras' concept of kosmos, or harmony.

What is the significant of mathematics for Pythagorean philosophers?

Zeno

What philosopher developed the famous paradoxes of motion

Love and Strife serve as the "mixers" for Empedocles' compromising cosmology of mixing - where elements do not physically change but only change in amounts or ratios. Love and strife are agitators, while something in perfect love and harmony will reach sphairos, or unity, strife will enter and love will push back. Through this process, which mixes the elements into different ratios, things like limbs, or branches come to be which ultimately create us.

What roles do Love and Strife play in Empedocles' pluralism?

Parmenides believes that there can be no line of inquiry into "Non-Being" because you can't inquire about things that don't exist. Parmenides believed thinking and seeing to be the same thing, and while he elaborates on the Ways of Truth and Opinion as valid lines of inquiry, he argues that one cannot proceed down the way of non-being because what is not cannot be.

Why does Parmenides say there is no line of inquiry into nonbeing?

Xenophanes effectively believes that athletics don't in and of themselves lead to a better city. The city does not become more rich through athletics nor does it increase its eunomia (good laws and governance). Xenophanes is committed to the ideal that knowledge is the road to wisdom, implying that athletics don't do anything to increase a cities intellectual prowess, governance, or ultimately, its storerooms.

Why does Xenophanes think it is an error to praise and reward the Olympic victors?

Heraclitus is called the dark one in part due to his reputation for misanthropy and obscurity. In addition to making rude comments about other philosophers, his philosophy was known to be exceptionally hard to decipher, especially by Socrates. Known for confusing passages such as "the beginning and the end are common on the circumference of a circle". He hated people and believed that many were "sheeple" unless they were able to activate their "self-increasing logos". Heraclitus

Why is Heraclitus called the dark one?

Xenophanes largely rejected the Greek Olympians writ large - especially on the grounds that they were immoral, had bodies, and came to be. He was famous for his "tales restriction" where he would only tell modified tales in order to produce well-meaning and moral stories about godly conduct. The controversy stems from a fragment where he wrote of "one god, greatest among gods and men" - which clearly spelled out a monotheistic intention. However, Homer used this epithet to describe Zeus. Therein lies the rub

Why is there a question about whether Xenophanes was a polytheist or monotheist?

There are several compelling features about Milesian Monism. Most notably, it is simple and continuous. The concept of Milesian Monism is very simple to understand: the world at base is composed of one base thing (arche) which generates the manifested world. Also, Milesian Monism helps explain continuity: because all things interact with each other, the idea that there is one base arche underneath all things makes such interactions make sense.

Why would anyone want to be a Milesian Monist?

1: There are many Gods 2: They are immoral

Xenophanes of Colophon was a critic of what views associated with Olympianism

horses

Xenophanes: if horses had gods and could draw, they would draw their gods as _________________.

a space of its own / rest

Zeno: the arrow is always at